From Gowanus to Venice

The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn is notoriously toxic. Since 1869, the mile-long waterway has been a dumping ground for sewage, industrial sludge, guns and body parts – its waters once too vile to search. Today you can still stand on a bridge over the canal and see unmentionables floating on an iridescent film.

The odor, once almost unbearable, has softened into an occasional summer stink, thanks to a flushing tunnel installed 10 years ago. A growing number of artists and young people have moved into the industrial lofts and row houses nearby. Some of the most oblivious have been spotted on the canal in kayaks, their paddles stirring 140 years worth of detritus from tanneries, chemical plants and more.

Now, these Gowanus pioneers want somebody to finally detoxify their hazardous neighborhood. They imagine it as Brooklyn’s little Venice, although a bit cleaner. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering naming the Gowanus an official Superfund site. That would bring in a slow but steady federal cleanup with money and the legal clout to force polluters to help pay.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also wants a cleaner Gowanus, but he wants to do it his way. At a community board meeting Tuesday night, about 200 people listened as the mayor’s experts argued against a Superfund listing. It was a hard crowd to move. Many wore a button that said it all: “Gowanus Canal: Superfund Me.”

The mayor and his team are particularly worried about how a Superfund site would affect the real estate market, especially a few possibilities for larger developments in the area. Instead of being “stigmatized” by the Superfund label, as they put it, they favor the “Superfund Alternative” plan. Although there are few details at this point, that effort would be run by the city and overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency. Every year, the city would need to cobble together funds from the Corps of Engineers and other agencies to help clean up the area to E.P.A.’s satisfaction. The city could only plead with polluters to help pay.

With so many pollutants and so many polluters, this looks like a job for Superfund. Brooklyn can handle the label. Residents already enjoy bragging about their survival or joking about living near the canal’s dark humors. Why else have a popular bar called the Gowanus Yacht Club? They just want the cleanup done and done right.

via The New York Times

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